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A plot to position a multimillionaire backbencher as a future party leader was
dismissed as a “silly” distraction by senior Conservative figures yesterday.

Adam Afriyie, one of the party’s few black MPs, who has a self-made fortune of
as much as £100 million, was being championed by Conservative backbenchers
desperate to avoid a “Cabinet stitch-up” should David Cameron lose the next
election.

The MPs are among those disillusioned with “coalitionist” Conservatives. One
of those aware of the covert campaign said that they had been preparing to
meet a media adviser to discuss how to raise Mr Afriyie’s profile. The
plotting